Morah Katie: What continent is called the island continent?
Efraim: Australia.
Morah Katie: Why is it called the island continent?
Efriam: Surrounded by ocean!
Morah Katie: Is it the largest continent?
Gracie: No.
Morah Katie: If it is not the largest, what size is it?
Sroli: It is the smallest!

While in Australia we visited the Sydney Opera house and the Harbour Bridge.

Morah Katie: I am interested in visiting the LARGEST rock on earth. Where would I go?
Efraim: To Uluru.
Gracie: You would go to Australia.
Efraim: It is in the middle. 
Scout: You would have to go to the very middle of Australia.

Gracie is Uluru and Ella is an Adelaide penguin.

Efraim is Uluru while Isaac sorts Aussie animals.

 Morah Katie: Is a kookaburra a marsupial?
Gracie: No, Morah Katie it's not a marsupial.
Scout: It's a bird.
Morah Katie: Do kookaburras really eat gumdrops, like in the song?
Amelia: No.  It eats the sap.
Morah Katie: If a kookaburra is a bird, then what animal is a marsupial?
Gracie: Like a kangaroo.
Efraim: A wallaby.
Sroli: A koala.
Morah Katie: What makes a marsupial so special?
Sofia: They live in Australia.
Efraim: They have a pocket to carry the baby.
Ameila: The pocket keeps the baby safe.
Morah Katie: Do all animals have pockets to carry the babies?
Ella: No. But a wallaby does have a pocket.

"A willaby wallaby woo 

an elephant sat on you!"

Morah Katie: Wait! Do elephants live in Australia?

Gracie: NO!

Morah Katie: Do wallabies live in Australia?

Sroli: Yes! 

Morah Katie: Should we be worried about elephants sitting on us?

Abigail: No.

Judah: It's just a silly song!

While in the "outback" we made didgeridoos.

Morah Katie: How are didgeridoos made?
Isaac: It is a long stick.
Gracie: It is a branch.
Morah Katie: It is a branch or tree limb. People hollow out the branch and are able to use it to create music. 

Morah Katie: How are the Australian people similar, the same, to other places we have visited?
Zim: They need food and water.
Efraim: They need homes.
Ella: They need jackets and blankets to keep warm.
Morah Katie: Australia has a lot of sheep.  What can people use the sheep's fur for?
Scout: Clothes. 
Morah Katie: Some Australians care for herds of sheep, and use the wool to create cloth for clothes for people on every continent.

 

 Morah Katie: Zim, what do you think the sweater is made from?
Zim: Sheep's wool. 
Anton: It would keep you warm.

Australians speak English, yet we were able to pick up a few new words:

Buddy or pal became mate

Sheep became jumback

Sweater became jumper

Hello became G'day

It has been an exciting trip so far. We will be returning to Vancouver, Washington for the next couple of weeks during which we will be preparing for the Jewish holiday of Purim!

It will be an exciting time as our classroom is transformed into the city of Shushan and we meet Mordechai and Esther, from the Purim story.

Off to Antarctica

An Expedition to Antarctica

Morah Katie: What will we need for our trip to Antarctica?

Anton: Gloves

Natan: Jacket.

Ella: Food.

Gracie: Love

Jack: Shelter from the polar bears.

Morah Katie: We will need shelter, but not from polar bears. Polar bears live in the Arctic, at the top of Earth. Antarctica is at the bottom of Earth.

What animals do you think we will see there?

Isaac: Penguins

Jack: Whales

Scout: Seals

Morah Katie: What can you tell me about penguins?

Efraim: They eat fish.

Anton: The mom fishes and spits the food out for the baby.

Abigail: The dad keeps the baby warm.

Isaac: They swim a lot with their wing flippers.

Scout: They live in Antarctica.

Gracie: They are black and white to be camouflaged.

We watched a clip from March of the Penguins:

The children were completely enthralled as they watched the mom and dad penguin gently scoot the egg between them to keep it warm. 

We pretended to be mama and daddy penguins taking cares of our egg.

Gracie: The mama pushes the egg to the dad with her feet. Then the dad keeps it warm.

While exploring with the water bin, Morah Amanda had a discussion with some of our friends. 

Morah Amanda: Let's look at some pictures of animals in Antarctica. What colors do you see?

Efraim:Brown

Scout: Grey

Morah Amanda: Why aren't the animals more colorful like in the rain forest?

Efraim: Penguins have white like the snow.

Scout: The animals need to hide from other animals.

Isaac: Let's add snakes.

Morah Amanda: Snakes and reptiles need the warmth from the earth to heat them. Would we see them in cold Antarctica?

Scout: No, its cold.

Efriam: It is too cold in Antarctica.

5 black and while penguins sitting on a cold iceberg!

Morah Katie: Instead of learning one new language this week, we have been saying Good Morning and Good bye in English, Hebrew, Japanese, Swahili, French.   We are in Antarctica, why are we speaking so many different languages?

Zim: Because everyone can go there.

Morah Katie: Most people who visit Antarctica are explorers and scientists. This week we are going to be scientists and run a few different experiments.

Salt and water.

Experiment #1: Can we trap salt?

1. Draw a shape on paper.

2. Place a spoonful of salt inside the shape.

3. Make a larger shape around salt with water color paint.

4. Tilt paper to slide salt.

 We saw:

Ella: The salt is not going out of the circle. 

Gracie: It is like a mountain of salt with a peak.

 Experiment #2: Colored water and salt
1. Place a spoonful of salt on paper.
2. Use a dropper to drop 1 water drop on paper.
3. Repeat on the salt.
We saw:
Ari: Bubbles.
Evan: It is making bubbles.
Scout: The salt is absorbing the water so there are no bubbles on the salt.
Anton: I made a pink bubble and now the colors are all mixing in the salt.
Efraim: The salt pulls it all together.

 

 Sofia's colored salt while wet had a bubble of blue green yellow; when it had dried it was all green.

Morah Katie: Sofia how did that happen?

Sofia: It soaked together. It's Green.

Experiment #3: Lemon Juice and Pennies
1. Squeeze lemons for lemon juice.
2. Place a penny in a small container.
3. Cover with lemon juice.
4. Wait 5 minutes.
5. Wipe juice off with a q-tip.
We saw:
Amelia: It is all dark on the end (referring to q-tip).
Efraim: It is getting shiny.

Experiment #3 -extended: Lemon Juice vs. Vinegar

Sroli: They are both cleaning. The Lemon smells good.

Experiment #4: How many pennies can float in a boat?  How many pennies does it take to sink a boat?
1. Create a boat.
2. Place it in water.
3. Add pennies 1 at a time.
We saw:
Ameila: It is still floating.
Efraim: When I blow on it it moves.
Anton: I put 4 pennies in my boat.

So long Antarctica!

G'day Australia!

Our Olympic Week in Pictures

Flag making

Each child created a flag by drawing something important to represent who they are.

Efraim: The Beach and Mom

Anton: It's a puzzle map of the world!

Our Parade of "Nations"

First Event: Obstacle course

Second Event: Monster Monster what time is it?

Third Event:  Duck Duck Goose

Fourth Event: Who is missing?

Final Event: Hide'n'Seek

A fun time was had in Sochi!

We will be continuing our world trip with an expedition to 

Antarctica! 

Penguin, Elephant Seals and Orcas here we come!

Bon Jour/Mbote/Habari ya asubuhi

We have traveled to The Democratic Republic of the Congo.

While on a photo safari, we saw gorillas in the rain forest 

and hippos in rivers. 

We spied rhinos and a herd of zebras.

We noticed that children in The Democratic Republic of the Congo are similar to children in the other countries we have visited. 

Morah Katie:  What does every child in The Democratic Republic of the Congo need?

Zim: Food.

Gracie: Shelter.

Sroli: Water

Abigail: Clothes.

Natan: Toys, they want toys.

Morah Katie: What does every child in Botswana, Japan, Israel and Vancouver, Washington need?

Efraim: School. Play.

Abigail: Blankets.

Ella: Shelter.

Sroli: Gloves.

Jack: Food.

Anton: Pets.

Isaac: Pants.

Gracie: They all need it. Everyone. On every continent.

While on this portion of our world wide trip, we enjoyed different varieties of bananas,

Morah Katie: Archie did you like the red banana?

Archie: Yes, red banana.

We ate a traditional sweet treat, Kashata.

 
Gracie: It tastes like candy.
Jack: It tastes like honey.
Efraim: I like it.
Sroli: It tastes like lollipops.
Natan: It tastes like muffins, I like it.

We made masks.

We were speaking 3 languages this week!

English, French and Swahili.

Good Morning/ Hello: Bon jour/Mbote

Please: S'il vous plait/ Tafadhali

Thank you: Merci/Asante

Goodbye: Au revoir/Kwaheri

Next week we will be taking a side trip back to Asia.

We will be traveling to Sochi, Russia 

for the 

2014 Gan Olympics!!

Be prepared for pageantry and spectacle as 18 capable preschoolers play exciting games of :

Duck duck goose, 

Doggie doggie where's your bone? 

Simon says,  

Musical chairs,

and more!